All in All is All We Are
by Jediempress
Summary: Riku can't sleep and decides to help out at Tifa's bar. There he mets up with a former Turk and a discussion on various things begins. Sometimes, people have more in common that you think. Birthday fic for Reno's Boyfriend. COMPLETE.


Okay so this is like way late and I'm so sorry! I've been stressing so bad over this and I really don't know why. Anyway, this is Reno's boyfriend's very belated birthday fic. It's rather heavily influenced by the song All Apologies by Nirvana and I think if covers all the prompts given. If it sucks, I'm sorry. I tried my best.

Again, I no own any of them.

All in All is All We Are

Riku was only slightly surprised to find the bar nearly devoid of life when he walked in through the door. It was nearly three in the morning on a work night. Normally he would also be home, curled around Cloud in bed, but the blond man was still off planet with Zack and Leon.

He had given up on sleeping tonight and decided that he needed to do something. He knew Tifa still needed help at the bar with ordering supplies and organizing shipments so he had come across town to see what he could do. Maybe he would look through some of the applications she had for bar managers and weed out the obvious rejects.

As he made his way to the other side of the tavern, one of the few remaining patrons caught his attention. He had heard that Vincent Valentine was on-planet but had yet to see him. The raven-haired man sat alone at a far table, a half-empty glass before him.

Riku changed his direction, waving briefly at Faye behind the bar and shaking his head when she asked if he wanted anything. He silently approached the former Turk and though the man did not look up, Riku knew that he was aware he was coming. Vincent had senses that rivaled even the sons of Jenova.

It was not until Riku stood beside the table that Vincent made a small gesture with his hand, motioning for the silvered teen to sit. As the younger man did so, crimson eyes flicked up and a mere trace of a smile tugged at his lips. "I was not aware you were also an insomniac."

"Only when Cloud's out of town…"

Vincent nodded once and raised his glass to his mouth. After taking a sip, he set it back down and released it. He straightened his back a little and regarded Riku for a moment. "I saw Sephiroth earlier. He is doing well."

"Yeah," agreed Riku with a light smile. "I'm so proud of him. It's been very hard for him to integrate himself with everyone but he's trying so hard and everyone is truly beginning to accept him. He's finally getting the normal life he's wanted."

Vincent laid his hand flat on the table. He studied it as he spoke. "It does not surprise me that he had been able to accomplish as much as he has. Despite Jenova, and how Hojo chose to raise Sephiroth, he is definitely his mother's son."

"Really...?" Riku laced his fingers together in his lap. "I saw a picture of her once. Seph looks a lot like her."

Vincent made a faint noise. "He has his father's cheekbones but the rest of his features are hers. However, it is more than that. He has her determination and drive to repair things that have gone wrong. Lucrecia spent the last few years of her life trying to make up for an event that she had no control over."

Riku leaned back in the chair, studying the older man. "Do you blame yourself for what happened to Lucrecia?"

"I used to;" The raven-haired man stated easily. "I spent many years questioning what I could have done differently. I know now that there isn't anything I could have done. She made her choices and she dealt with the consequences of those decisions."

"Guilt is a really funny thing, isn't it?" The teen noted quietly. "I spent a lot of time blaming myself for everything that happened to Sora after I opened the door on Destiny Islands. Hell, for a while I tried taking all the blame for everything that happened to everyone. It took a long time for me to learn to separate what I am responsible for and what I'm not."

"I am certain your brother had a great deal to do with that."

Riku smiled a little. "He did, along with Cloud and Mickey. However, what really made it click was being back on the Islands with Sora."

Vincent nodded, taking a slow drink. One of the things Riku had found he really liked about the older man was that he was completely unobtrusive yet managed to ask the right questions at the right time. He got people to think about their actions and decisions without actually getting himself involved.

"Is it difficult for you to be around Sephiroth?" Riku found himself asking. He was not sure why this conversation started, but Vincent did not seem to care and he simply felt like talking.

Vincent did not answer immediately. He gazed at his glass for a moment before turning his eyes up toward Riku, "At times."

"And what's got you guys so serious?" Reno dropped into the chair between the two. He leaned back in it casually, one arm draped along the back. His other hand set a glass of whiskey on the table.

"When am I not serious, Reno?" Vincent responded easily, not looking in the redhead's direction.

"Too true," Reno grinned easily, pointing at Riku. "And this one can be just as bad, especially when Spike's not here."

Riku rolled his eyes but did not argue. It was true and everyone present knew it. "Do we want to know what you've been doing?"

"Just got off of patrol," he shrugged, picking up his glass for a drink. "Dem will be sleeping now and I'm really not tired so…"

The teen nodded, understanding what the other man was implying.

"So, what's the topic of discussion?" Reno glanced between the pair. "Neither one of you are much for idle chit-chat, yo."

"The present," muttered Vincent.

"The present...?" Reno echoed, tattooed face twisting up. "Like, in the 'how did we get here?' sense or the broader more general form of the word?"

"A little of both, I think," Riku clarified. "They are kind of linked."

"One can directly relate to the other," added Vincent.

Riku lifted an eyebrow at Reno's rather out of place laugh. The redhead grinned, snorting into his drink. "Sorry. I just find it funny how alike the two of you are."

Vincent lifted his glass casually. "We should all be as easily amused."

"Hey, if I couldn't find the humor in these things, I'd be just as bad as you guys," Reno countered. "You don't think I feel horrible for some of the things I've done? You don't think I have guilt…? If you don't, you're both damn idiots, yo."

Vincent cast his crimson eyes over. "And people wonder why Turks drink so much."

Snorting, Reno raised his drink in mock-toast. "Married to the job; buried by the job."

Riku looked between them. "Being a Turk sounds more like a lifestyle than a career."

"That would be a fairly accurate statement," Vincent agreed. "You are told when you are first brought into the Turks that the life you lived prior will cease; your past erased."

"The ultimate fresh start," Reno murmured, staring into his whiskey.

"I guess that has its advantages." Riku stood, deciding that he now needed a drink.

Before he could head for the bar, however, Faye was approaching the table. She smiled easily at him, holding a small tray with three glasses. "I had a feeling the three of you were going to want these."

"Ah, I love you, Faye," Reno sighed out, throwing his head back and grinning wickedly. "You always know just what I need, yo."

"Lay off, Reno," there was no bite to her words as she set the glasses down and Riku dropped back into his seat. "I don't date men who are into other men."

"Did I say anything about dating?"

The voluptuous woman thumped the side of his head and left. She waved off Riku's thank you and winked at Vincent as she did. She practically sashayed back to the bar rail.

"Man, she is hot for you, Vin," noted Reno as he watched her walk around the bar. "You should totally hit that."

Vincent gave him a bland look but his eyes clearly questioned the redhead's sanity.

"What?" Reno set both his hands flat on the table. "I bet you anything that Faye is totally willing and I doubt you've gotten laid since you left that damn coffin. Live a little, yo!"

"I have no interest in anything of that nature."

The younger Turk sighed and shook his head. "I don't get you people. Sex is one of life's great pleasures and there are people like you and Sephiroth who just don't care. I don't know how you do it."

Vincent only shrugged.

Reno leaned back again and glanced at Riku. "Your brother's still a virgin, right?"

"How the hell should I know?" Riku's face twisted up. "I really couldn't care less about Seph's sex life or lack thereof one."

"Well, everyone knows 'bout you and Spike's," the redhead chuckled. "And Zack isn't exactly quiet about it either."

"Zack isn't quiet about anything."

"Very true."

The three fell into a comfortable silence, drinking casually from their glasses. Riku figured it had to be close to four in the morning now. It looked like Faye was getting ready for last call. The few other people who had been present when he arrived were all gone save two at one of the booths.

"Well," Reno finished his drink before standing up. "I think I'm done here, yo."

"I think Faye's getting ready to close up," Riku noted, looking over at the woman who indeed beginning the closing procedures.

"Then I won't hold her up," Reno waved to the woman. He then turned toward the two men in the booth. "Yo! Closing time! You don't have to go home but you can't stay here, yo!"

The other patrons gave the Turk amused, slightly drunken smiles and after downing the rest of their drinks, got up and left. Faye bid them goodbye and thanked Reno who only smirked flirtatiously and muttered something about her making it up to him. He then simply gave Riku and Vincent a mock-salute and left also.

Riku went over to the now abandoned table and collected the glasses and money from it, handing everything off to Faye. Vincent cleared off their own table, seemingly oblivious to the advance the dark-haired woman made on him when he did. Somehow, Riku knew that he was perfectly aware of it and was simply ignoring it.

Riku located a rag and a small bucket and automatically began wiping down tables. "Hey, Vincent?"

The man glanced over at him neutrally.

"Do you ever think about what might have happened if you had convinced Lucrecia to abandon the project?"

"No," he replied easily, watching Riku move from one table to the next. "It does no good to dwell on what ifs. They are the same burden as taking the blame for things you have no control over."

"I suppose." The teenager rinsed out his rag. "Sephiroth doesn't wonder about those things either. He says that all things happen for a reason exactly as they're supposed to."

The older male crossed his arms before himself. "You don't agree?"

"Not exactly. I mean, obviously our lives and who we are comes from an accumulation of our experiences. I just don't know how much of an influence we have on that."

From the bar, Faye laughed. "No one does, kid."

"True," Riku nodded. He finished the last table and tossed the rag into the bucket before casting his gaze on Vincent. "You know, Sephiroth once said that he wished you had been his father."

"Did he?" Something in Vincent's crimson eyes shifted but that was his only visible reaction to the statement.

"Yeah," Riku brought his cleaning supplies back to the bar. Faye took them from him and Riku turned back toward Vincent. "He's really come to like you. I think that by talking to him about his real mother, you've done a lot more to heal him than any of us could."

"I don't think so. It was meeting you that made Sephiroth want to take control of his own life," Vincent disagreed. "You gave him a purpose and started him on the path to his recovery. I would never have spoken to him if he had not come so far along on his own."

"So why did you decide to start talking to him?"

"I honestly don't know. We ended up sitting together at the bar and I just felt compelled to say something."

Riku moved away from the bar. "Well, I'm really glad you did. You gave my brother something he didn't have before and it's made all the difference."

Vincent gave the teen a faint smile. "Sephiroth is not the only one who benefited from those conversations."

Riku grinned. "Good."

"Hey, guys," Faye interrupted. "If you're done with your little bonding moment, I'm ready to close shop."

"Right," Riku spoke slowly. "You're staying here, right Vincent?"

The pale man nodded once. "Tifa insisted."

"That sounds like her," the younger man commented. He walked behind the counter and retrieved the stack of invoices that had been piling up. "When you see her in the morning, tell her I took the paperwork and I'll get it back to her in the evening."

Vincent nodded.

"I'll walk you home, Faye," Riku began walking for the front door with Faye right behind him. Just before leaving, he turned toward Vincent. "If you get the chance, I want to finish our discussion."

"I would like that. Perhaps you and Sephiroth can meet me for lunch tomorrow."

Riku smiled. "Count on it."


End file.
